[1] Charles Amos Messenger, his great-grandfather, was a sculling champion in Victoria who established the first boatshed on Sydney Harbour at Balmain.

His upbringing took place in Sydney, with most of his school years spent in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains at St Bernard's College.

[11]: 2008 Awards Messenger has been involved in the civil celebrant program, initially within Australia and subsequently in other English-speaking countries.

[13] In January 1994 he was elected the foundation president of the Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants Inc who, on 26 May 1996, honoured him with Life Membership.

[4] Messenger was prosecuted for violating Victorian consumer law, accused of attempting to manipulate the fees charged by civil celebrants for funeral services.

[14] In 2007, he pleaded guilty to attempting to induce individuals to contravene section 45(2)(a)(ii) of the Competition Code of Victoria and was fined $46,000, in addition to covering his own legal costs amounting to $20,000.

[15] Messenger and his supporters persist in asserting that the Australian public is poorly served by a system that grants funeral directors significant control over the conditions and compensation of celebrants.

He gave the launching address to the newly formed Celebrant USA Foundation in New Jersey on 5 June 2002 at the Montclair Library.

[23] Messenger has often been a critic of bureaucrats in the Australian Attorney-General's department who tried to reduce the training requirements for persons appointed as celebrants.